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Foundation
Skills Assessment 2010
The BCTF’s campaign
against the overuse and misuse of standardized testing is set to resume
with an effort to inform parents and the larger public of the negative
aspects of the Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA), the Ministry-mandated
tests given to Grade 4 and 7 students in reading comprehension, writing,
and numeracy.
The window for the
administration of these tests has been set wider than in previous years,
increasing the potential for these tests to disrupt the regular pace of
teaching and learning in the school. FSA results do not count toward
students’ marks, nor do the results support student learning in any
meaningful way, but they do take large amount of classroom time.
So far, the
government has been unwilling to yield to calls from the BCTF to
discontinue its annual exercise in standardized testing, nor have they
been open to the advice of teachers that the tests be set aside
altogether, or administered on a random-sampling basis. There are good
reasons why government should act on this advice. Changes to the FSA to
allow for random-sampling would be much less expensive, and potentially
more valid than the current census-based approach. It’s also an approach
that has worked well in the past, as participants in the Provincial
Learning Assessment Program will attest.
The issue of the
overuse and misuse of standardized testing is one which deserves the
full attention of teachers, no just those teaching grades 4 and 7.
There is not subject or grade level where some kind of standardized
testing instrument might be misused or misapplied. Ask colleagues who
teach provincially examinable subjects, commencing in grade 10.
The truth is,
teachers acknowledge the importance of tests; teachers create,
administer and use tests to evaluate student learning all the time. We
know how to use tests appropriately, both as a diagnostic tool (prior to
teaching, to determine what needs to be learned), and as an evaluative
instrument (to be used after teaching, to confirm what has been
learned). And teachers know how to combine test results with other
evaluative means such as portfolio, and other qualitative measures to
provide a fuller, more accurate view of a student’s learning.
Delta Teachers' Association
210 - 5000 Bridge Street, Delta, BC V4K 2K4
604 946 0391
email - deltateachers@telus.net
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